Speaktoit, a developer of technologies based on natural language conversations, announced last week it has received an investment from Intel’s investment arm, Intel Capital. The investment amount and the startup’s valuation are kept undisclosed. Founded in Russia in October, 2010, Speaktoit attracted angel money in January, 2011. It also received a grant from Skolkovo, the state-sponsored …
Moscow-based serial startup developer Fast Lane Ventures has teamed up with Ru-Net, an established Russian venture fund, to launch Eventmag.ru, an online service to organize events and book event tickets. The well known US site Eventbrite.com was taken as a model, Fast Lane openly acknowledges, with the ultimate goal of providing a ticket selling platform …
Fast Lane Ventures and Ru-Net launch event management and ticket booking system Read More
Innobis.ru, a website launched eariler this month, could help Russian startups and innovators find clients among large companies in need of innovative solutions – something most of them have found to be a difficult challenge until now. Corporations post their requests, problems, or proposed tasks on the website, and innovators can reply, offering their technologies. …
Web portal connects innovators with large corporations Read More
Flamp.ru, a consumer review website that appeared one year ago in the Siberian cities Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk, followed by a launch in Ekaterinburg in the Urals, announced last week it now covers the Russian capital. Not only do Flamp.ru users review local businesses like cafés, museums and theaters, they can also post comments about banks, …
Siberian local review service Flamp.ru now serves Moscow Read More
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, can now be contacted through his official Facebook page. The page has generated over 3,000 ‘Likes’ three days since it opened on Tuesday, May 15. Visitors can read the Patriarch’s speeches, learn Church-related news, see photos of Kirill and click on …
Russia’s e-book market has been growing at a robust CAGR of 120% over the past three years, swelling from 11 million rubles (just under $370,000) in 2008 to 135 million rubles ($4.5 million) in 2011, Russia’s Federal Press and Mass Communication Agency reports in its overview of the national book market’s progress and trends for …
E-books now 5% of market, but pirates still dominate Read More
The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation for the City of Moscow has initiated proceedings against the furniture company Shatura for distributing advertisements via SMS without users’ consent (SMS spam). During the check, the Antimonopoly Service established that Shatura had violated the article of the Federal Law on Advertising which forbids the distribution of …
Federal Antimonopoly Service initiates proceedings relating to SMS spam Read More
Earlier this week, Ivi.ru, a leading video streaming site, announced it has reached agreements with all relevant copyright owners in Holywood, including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, and Universal. These agreements, which were reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, will allow Ivi.ru to enlarge its video catalog …
Leading streaming video site Ivi.ru completes deals with Hollywood’s major studios Read More
Yuri Milner, co-founder of the prominent Russian Internet fund DST, is among the investors in Path, the much-hyped ‘mobile-centric social network’ launched in 2010. The investment round, which amounts to at least $30 million, was led by venture firm Redpoint Ventures, CNet reported on Monday, with entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Mark Pincus and Jerry Murdock, as …
Milner takes part in Path’s $30 million investment round Read More
Fast Lane Ventures announced last week it has agreed to sell its stake in the TV and online teleshopping company Shopping Live to the German group Home Shopping Europe for an undisclosed amount. A 24-hour channel, Shopping Live offers live programming up to five hours per day. The channel is currently represented on such major …
Fast Lane sells teleshopping company to German group Read More
An international scandal has grown this week around Girls Around Me, an iPhone application created by a subsidiary of i-Free, a major St. Petersburg, Russia based mobile app publisher. Starting with a post on ‘Cult Of Mac,’ a blog following products from Apple, the controversy has been fueled by a flurry of comments from mainstream media …
Russian mobile app creates international controversy over sexism and privacy Read More
St. Petersburg – i-Free reports that its venture foundation subdivision i-Free Ventures has stopped funding Places Around Me, the start-up that created the mobile application Girls Around Me. i-Free decided to stop funding Places Around Me because of the negative reaction its mobile application Girls Around Me has recently provoked among potential users.
